


Outtake From the Sea in Between: On the Table

by Oh_Contrary



Series: The Sea in Between [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Human Experimentation, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Imprisonment, Langst, Magic, Medical Situations, Non-Consensual Touching, non-sexual restraints, oc aliens - Freeform, questionable combinations thereof, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 13:19:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14619390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Contrary/pseuds/Oh_Contrary
Summary: In order to save Lance, they have to know what their up against. Shiro and Coran have to review footage from when Lance was captured, and see marks they wish they hadn't. Now, they have to take a hard look at what may have happened to Lance while he was missing. The question is, do they want to?an Outtake fromChapter 15ofThe Sea in Between.





	Outtake From the Sea in Between: On the Table

**Author's Note:**

> Hi lovelies.
> 
> I live. It's a damn miracle but I live.
> 
> This is an outtake I originally wasn't going to post, but, as I work on the next chapter, realized I need to go ahead and put out there so I can reference those themes later. This one is dark, and goes a direction I wasn't fully intending for this story (at least not so explicitly). While it's no more graphic than any other parts of the story, we deal with different types of abuse, this time sexual. 
> 
> There is no actual sexual assault, and as a result I have refrained from tagging the story for Rape/Non-con, as it'll put that tag on the entire series and I don't want that. 
> 
> If you think I need to add more warnings Please let me know. 
> 
> Anywho, here's this little piece. New content on the main story coming soon!
> 
> xoxo  
> ~Tay

Coran rushed back and forth around the bridge, hastily opening files and flinging glowing holoscreens around the room.

“We have a great deal of footage to get through in a very short amount of time if this research will help us protect Lance during the hanv’a malga. The dark quintessence inside him has proven volatile and, though we understand what it is and how it got there, we need to understand the full breadth of its function. It’s possible that removing the full amount with a purification ceremony could harm Lance.” He stopped, growing still in front of a computer. “It may very well be that the quintessence is what’s keeping the boy alive. Then again, it certainly is taxing his body, pushing him to limits that would be hard for even an Altean to bear.” He shook himself. “No matter, we will go through any footage we can of his time in that druid’s laboratory. Any time we can find the druid in the lab, we’ll watch the procedures, however…” Coran looked around the room at the holoscreens. Most of them showed only Lance’s prone figure, sometimes in that cold glass case, other times uncovered, shivering in the open air. “Most of the footage seems to be him by himself, in which case we don’t need to watch it.”

Coran stopped buzzing around the room only to notice the silence. He looked back over his shoulder. “Shiro?”

The black paladin stood across the room, arms crossed and broad shoulders stiff with tension. He looked directly at a holoscreen that, when Coran looked closely, he realized was already playing footage.

It was one of the many videos of Lance alone. He laid on the table. His hands and ankles were cuffed to the table. There were bands going over his much-reduced waist and over his forehead, securing him to the table. The only movements he seemed capable of were the wiggling and flexing of his fingers and toes, which he did restlessly. He shifted as much as he could, trying to move his shoulders and legs, and then again, wincing as he went.

Shiro pressed a circle in the corner of the screen, holding it until the volume began to increase. They began to hear the whir of the room, the sound of air circulating and the iv pumps pushing fluids slowly into Lance. Beneath the din, they could hear Lance’s shallow, hitching breaths.

“How many hours do you think he spent like this?” Shiro said quietly, acknowledging Coran’s presence for the first time.

“Well, given the timestamp on Lance’s arrival in this room? No more that 96 of your Earth hours.”  
“That’s four whole days. Four days that we were here, together, eating full meals and—”

“And training for a rescue mission.” Coran said, voice hard. “Shiro, we cannot put every day that Lance was missing up against what life was like here on the castle. That’s not fair to any of us.” Coran turned back to the computers, gathering the rest of the files and setting up an image scan.

“But it took us so long to get to him. Over a month.”

“During which we were taxed for time and resources.”

“We should’ve tried harder to get to him.”

“With what team, Shiro? There was time when we only had three paladins on hand. Hardly enough for anything more that a reconnaissance mission.”

“Then we should have done recon missions,” Shiro all but growled.

“We did what we could, Shiro. What our own circumstances allowed for.”

“Coran, you can’t ignore—”

“Can’t I?” Coran snapped. He slammed a fist down on the control panel and whirled to face Shiro. “It is well within my rights to look forwards at the boy we brought home instead of back at the one that the Galra sunk their claws into. It is my right, and my duty as a caretaker to focus on what we were able to do and how we move from there.”

Coran turned silently back to the control panel, watching the code of the image scan flit through the servers.

“Coran,” Shiro started, voice softer. “I didn’t—”

“Mean to upset me, I understand. Now—” Coran grabbed a file out of the image scan, throwing it into the air and then pushing a button to minimize the other holoscreens. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

 

 _The druid strode confidently into the lab, followed by two galra_ — _one tall and prestigiously uniformed, the other a guard_ — _and lay their hand on the control panel for Lance’s pod. The glass began to slide back, releasing a cloud of cold air. Even before the glass had receded all the way, Lance’s body began to jerk, practically vibrating in his bonds._

_The druid hissed something under their breath, turning quickly to the tools on the wall._

_“Nurav, what happens to the paladin?” The galra said, their low voice rumbling through the room like distant thunder._

_Nurav ignored him, grabbing a bag of cloudy blue fluid which they brought back to Lance, who was shaking just as violently as ever, his labored breathing and pained groans the overwhelming source of sound in the room._

_“Nurav!” the galra shouted, eyes flicking almost nervously between Lance and the druid. At the shout, Lance wailed, jaw unclenching for the first time as he shouted out his pain. He thrashed in his bonds._

_“Calm, General.” Nurav hissed, switching one IV bag for another, the murky blue fluid starting to move down towards the needle in Lance’s arm._

_“Calm?! The paladin wails like he’s dying and thrashes like a gutted Drashta!”_

_“His body is weaker than expected_ — _”_

_“Then cease with your nonsense. Haggar has seen your plans for the boy--”_

_The druid straightened up, inhaling sharply and looking almost expectantly towards the general. “And?”_

_“And even she thinks they are over-zealous drivel. She says you are delusional, and will kill the paladin before Atavan.”_

_“The paladin lives_ — _”_

_“Barely. And you have only been down here one night. A human such as this cannot handle the strains of quintessence you plan to use. His body might survive, by sheer magic alone, but you will break his mind. Irreparably.”_

_“And if I do not? If I create a monster to best even the Champion? Whom his majesty could bend to his every whim? Who would kill for us? On sight and without hesitation?”_

_“Delusions of grandeur. Not even the high priestess_ — _”_

_“And if I can?” The druid all but yelled. “If I complete him?” The general didn’t speak. Instead his eyes flicked to Lance who, as the blue fluid had moved through the IV and into his body, had begun to quiet, though his body still quivered._

_The druid began to chuckle, a dark, thrumming sound. “I’m sure that when Tarnec sent you, he did not realize the affection you also held for the plaything that the boy has become.” Nurav grabbed the hem of the threadbare tunic that Lance wore and slid it up to the band over his middle, revealing his naked lower torso. Nurav brushed a cold finger over the claw marks on Lance’s hips, a mess of lines and puncture wounds from who knows how many individuals allowed to punish and play with him over the last few weeks. The general barely withheld a growl._

_“Are any of these your work general? Or are the bruises at his waist more your style?” Nurav chuckled again, sliding a hand up from Lance’s hips to the band that ran over the small of his waist, splaying their fingers and slipping fingertips beneath the thick leather. “Don’t you realize how predictable you are? Here the trophy is ours to play with. A gift to lord Zarkon and his friends. But, as the one who_ gave _the boy to Zarkon_ — _”_

 _“But General Haskoh_ — _”_

_“Was a liar and a fool!” Nurav snatched their hand away from Lance and pointed a accusatory finger at the general. “Zarkon is right to have punished him and we both know it. The paladin was my idea, my project. And he will remain such. Now,” they smirked, undoing the waist restraint and sliding Lance’s tunic up to his armpits. “If Tarnec wants to ask for full control of the boy, to own him instead of the emperor,” they trailed a slow hand up the center of Lance’s chest, “he is certainly welcome to. Then you and he can share him all you want. Though, I highly doubt Tarnec would let you.” A cold chuckle. “He’s awfully attached to the thing, isn’t he.”_

_They looked up at the general who, despite his deep scowl, was transfixed by Lance and the skin on display._

_“Perhaps you should go General. Before you make a fool of yourself.” Nurav walked calmly along the side of the examination table, pulling Lance’s tunic back down and they went. “Tell Haggar that if she is truly curious about my plans, she should come take a look herself. I would be glad to have her input.”_

_The general’s jaw worked, clenching and unclenching in time with his fists, but he said nothing._

_“That is all.” Nurav said. Turning their back to them and turning to Lance. They typed on the console, throwing up holoscreens with his vitals before pushing a button that cause a small case with three vials in it to rise from the floor. The case opened with a plume of cold fog and they removed one glowing vial. Examining it briefly, before slowly unscrewing the cap._

_“You may leave, General. Or should I have Lord Tarnec come and retrieve you?”_

_The general jolted as if struck before whirling about and leaving the room._

_Nurav walked up to the head of the table where Lance was starting to twitch into consciousness. They wrapped their fingers around Lances neck, looking at him as if considering, before sliding them slowly up to his jaw, which they tugged down until his mouth was wide open. A pained groan escaped, which Nurav quickly hushed._

_“Shh, shh. None of that now. It’s just you and me Rashtan, though not rashta for much longer, no.” another cold chuckle. “This will make you strong.” They hissed, pouring the vial down his throat with one quick move. They forced his jaw shut and held him there as he choked and spluttered while the fluid burned down his throat. Within seconds he began to jerk as if seizing before his back bowed, arching steeply over the table. He melted slowly back to the hard surface, muscles unwinding one by one, before lolling back into sleep._

 

Shiro couldn’t breathe. Every slip of air past his lips brought him closer and closer to vomiting. He wished, not for the first time and certainly not the last, that he and Allura had stayed near Lance on that prison ship. That they had covered him better and kept him from being captured. Had gone after him immediately and pulled him from Haskoh’s ship before he ever made it to Zarkon. Before the druid ever touched him. Before the Galra ever…

Bile welled in his throat as the marks on Lance’s hips and their implications rushed to the forefront of his mind. As the general’s hungry stare returned, dancing over Lance’s bruised torso and bandaged legs, never once straying to his face. Lance was just a body to them. A ‘plaything’ as the druid had called him.

He had the urge to go down to the med bay and check on Lance… but Allura was in there, preparing him for the ritual, and he shouldn’t interrupt.

Coran was silent beside him. Shiro suddenly realized that the video had stopped and the two of them were standing in silence. He couldn’t tell if the silence had lasted seconds or an hour.

Finally, Coran cleared his throat.

“I… I suppose we knew that these things happen… quite often in fact. When one person is subject to or under the power of another—”

“Coran.” Shiro said, surprised at how raw his own voice was without him having used it. Coran babbled on.

“It isn’t uncommon for conquerors to-to express their dominance in such a way. To exert control or- or to break a willful prisoner—”

“Coran, please.”

“But the healing pod showed no trauma of that sorts. His… only his hips and thighs. His groin was unmarked and there seemed to be none of the tearing associated with forceful entry—”

“Coran, please!” Shiro shouted, hand flashing purple as he sliced it through the air. His voice echoed through the room and some of the other holoscreens— those timeless hours of Lance in the pod— flickered. “I don’t want to talk about. We won’t _ever_ talk about it.”

“Shiro, we might not have a choice—”

“Then we address it when the time comes. Until then, this, like the rest of the footage, is private. Now let’s move on.”

Shiro went to the console and pulled up the image scan. There were only thirteen other videos that had matched for images of the druid. That meant that, over the course of four days, the druid had only visited Lance a handful of times. Meaning the rest of that time was spent in silence. Shiro looked around the room at the different videos of Lance. The long stretches of time in which he simply tugged uselessly at his bonds, or shivered in the open air.

In the video just to Shiro’s right, he was muttering to himself— illegibly, almost silently, but muttering nonetheless. Slow tears ran down the side of his head, disappearing into the bloodstained bandages that covered his ear.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, let me know what you think! comment keep me going. so like. if you want more of this, comment. it makes me write faster.
> 
> Come yell at me on [tumblr](https://profoundprincessface.tumblr.com/)!


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